As trusted advisors, we see it as our job to alert you to strategies that can help build and protect your family’s wealth and the lifestyle it supports. From a macro perspective, we see an estate tax that takes essentially no wealth from the vast majority of families, historically high federal deficits, and a real possibility for an administration change that would take us in the direction of more assets being lost to estate and gift taxes. An important and impactful estate tax minimization strategy has always been to use your exemption sooner rather than later. Even if the exemption amount stays […]
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Protecting your assets from creditors (“asset protection”) is a topic you don’t think much about until a triggering event, and then it can jump to the top of your priorities. The triggering event may be an accident with personal injuries on your property, a contract commitment turning bad, or involvement in a financial project where substantial resources are lost. Asset protection planning can take many forms, including changing asset titles or setting up structures, such as LLCs or Trusts, to own assets. With respect to Trusts, in the past these have probably gotten more press than their actual usage would […]
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Many folks have not considered holding a family meeting in a slightly more formal setting like one of your advisor’s offices. There can be many advantages to these. Confidence is an important outcome that we talk about here. Do your spouse and children know what to do if you are not there? Whether they articulate it in advance or not, most families express a substantial improvement in their sense of security knowing there are caring professionals with knowledge of their situation who are there and ready to help at any point. This is also a great time to develop and perpetuate […]
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September 5th is the International Day of Charity and its purpose, at least in part, is to raise awareness for charities all over the world. Helping many folks plan, as we do, how their wealth can most benefit themselves and their families and communities, it seems an appropriate occasion to share a few thoughts on charity from our perspective. Rather than recite all the techniques that help maximize estate, gift and income tax benefits of charitable gifts, it may be more useful to say: If you plan to make a significant gift to charity, whether it is on a one-time […]
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The 40th Annual Estate Planning Conference, held as usual in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, just concluded. Below are three takeaways we believe you’ll find useful in your practice. FLP Entities John W. Porter, an experienced tax litigator with Baker Botts LLP in Houston, Texas spoke on several topics including family limited partnership style entities. There were a number of takeaways but a good summary is still “respect the entity.” Too many families treat these as personal bank accounts rather than business entities and do not get the results they hoped for. If your clients have these LLCs or LPs and […]
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Stewart Law, P.A., a boutique corporate, trusts, and estates firm in Charlotte, North Carolina is proud to announce that Founding Partner, Todd A. Stewart has been recognized as Best Lawyers in America® 2020 in Charlotte, NC. The Best Lawyers in America® program is the oldest and among the most respected attorney ranking services in the world. Todd was selected in the trusts and estates category. Attorneys named to Best Lawyers lists are recognized by their peers in the legal industry for their professional excellence in specific practice areas. To read their recently released press release click here.
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